The packaging of fruit in a box or a case requires the following to be taken into account:
the different sizes of existing fruit;
optimum packing of fruit per tray, all sizes together; and
possible optimization of fruit weight for packaging in boxes or cases, whatever the size of the packaged fruit.
Known trays for packaging fruit are not designed to receive fruit of all sizes, so it is necessary to have several types of tray with cells of different sizes.
Furthermore, known trays with rows of cells placed side by side are capable of receiving only a relatively small weight of fruit.
The invention seeks to mitigate the above-mentioned drawbacks of conventional fruit trays by creating a fruit tray that enables fruit of different sizes to be packed.
The invention also seeks to create a fruit tray that enables a greater weight of fruit to be packed than is possible using state-of-the-art trays.
The invention thus provides a tray of molded material, in particular for fruit, comprising cells for receiving individual fruits, wherein the cells are disposed in successive rows of high cells and of low cells, the high cells and the low cells also presenting a relative disposition in a staggered configuration.
According to other characteristics of the invention:
the low cells in a row along a first dimension of the tray are touching whereas those in a row along a second dimension of the tray are spaced apart at regular intervals;
the high cells in each row along the short dimension of the tray are spaced apart from one another by a first interval whereas the cells of high cell rows along the long dimension of the tray are spaced apart from one another by a second interval different from the first interval;
the high cells in each row along the short dimension of the tray and the high cells along the long dimension of the tray are spaced apart from one another at equal intervals;
the depth of the high cells is less than the depth of the low cells;
the tray is made of molded fibers;
the tray is made of polystyrene or of polyurethane; and
the tray is made by injection.